COMMENTARY  Don’t ban the bulb!

Thursday

Jan 27, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 27, 2011 at 9:11 PM

In their zeal to reduce Americans’ use of energy, environmentalists and their allies in government have instituted “performance standards” that will soon lead to the phase-out of most incandescent light bulbs, the very symbol of invention and inspiration.

Kenneth P. Green

In their zeal to reduce Americans’ use of energy, environmentalists and their allies in government have instituted “performance standards” that will soon lead to the phase-out of most incandescent light bulbs, the very symbol of invention and inspiration.

Setting aside the idea that consumers should have freedom to choose the illumination they think best, the de facto ban is a bad idea for any number of reasons both economic and environmental.

First, the only readily available alternatives to standard incandescent bulbs are more expensive, and offer inferior, less flexible lighting options. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are not completely interchangeable with incandescent lighting. Conventional dimmers, for example, may not work with CFLs, requiring people who want dimmable lights to buy new CFL-compatible dimmers which cost more, but do not perform as well as conventional dimmers. Also, CFLs don’t live as long if they are put in enclosed light fixtures.

Second, CFLs have environmental drawbacks. For one thing, CFLs contain mercury. If they are disposed of improperly, there is a significant risk of environmental contamination. It’s true that each bulb contains only a tiny amount of mercury, but when you consider how many millions of bulbs are likely to simply hit the trash can, rather than be sent for safe disposal, the mercury releases could be significant.

Further, it takes more energy to manufacture a CFL than a conventional incandescent bulb. Given that CFLs will be made in China, where most electricity is produced with coal, there could be more, not less greenhouse gases generated in manufacturing. And then there’s the environmental impact of replacing light fixtures. As lighting expert Howard M. Brandston (who designed the lighting on the Statue of Liberty) points out, “CFLs work best in light fixtures designed for CFLs, and may not fit, provide desired service life, or distribute light in the same pleasing pattern as incandescents. How environmental will it be for homeowners to tear out and install new light fixtures?”

Finally, there are always unintended consequences to consider. Incandescent light bulbs don’t simply emit light, they put out heat as well, reducing how much heat must be used when temperatures are cool. That warming effect is also localized to where people are. By contrast, if incandescent bulbs are replaced with cool CFLs, people may simply crank up the heat, and, unless they have individual room thermostats, that additional heat could be throughout their entire home.

This is not simply a hypothetical: A recent report by BC Hydro (the electricity provider in British Columbia) estimates new lighting regulations will increase annual greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia by 45,000 tons annually as consumers use more energy to heat their homes after switching to more energy efficient — but cooler — lighting. “The replacement of inefficient lights with efficient lights that produce less waste heat will lead to increased fossil fuel use for non-electric space heating,” says the report. These findings have been supported by other studies conducted in Canada as well as in Sweden.

Regulators tend to assume that they have perfect future vision, and that they can pick and choose technological winners and losers, and control for any unintended consequences. History, and an understanding of economics shows that this is nothing but a fatal conceit. Though environmentalists no doubt rejoice in the demise of the very symbol of inspiration, innovation, and entrepreneurialism, Congress should scrap these light-bulb regulations, and let consumers, operating in a free market, choose how we wish to light up our lives.

— Kenneth P. Green is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute

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